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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Hershey's Kiss, Kiss "Dah-ling" Cookies

I must be watching too many episodes of the Real Housewives Franchise because, while putting these together, "Kiss, Kiss, Dahling" (in the voice of Lisa Vanderpump or LuAnn De Lesseps) kept going through my head. Despite this, I had so much fun making these!! I first spied the idea on Pinterest here at Munchkin Munchies. They looked so adorable I had to try them myself. Since we are fast approaching February 14th, I decided to mimic the hues of the Kiss wrappers found in the Hershey Kiss Valentine's Day packages. So cute.

I have an absolutely favorite cut-out cookie recipe that I always use, but it contains lemon juice and zest. I planned to use melted Kisses for some of the cookies instead of icing, however, which didn't seem to appealing to combine with lemon. Also, I wanted to flavor some of the dough with almond (to create a faux Hershey Kiss Almond candy) and some with cherry (for Hershey Cherry Cordial Kiss cookies). Neither would be tasty with a lemon based cookie.

For a new sugar cookie dough recipe, I turned to The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, since she makes some of the most amazing cookies I have ever seen. It only stood to reason that her basic cookie recipe must be delicious, too, right? I made a few slight changes but was VERY happy with this recipe. I will most definitely be using it again.

Before baking the cookies, be sure you have your decorating supplies ready: Unwrapped Hershey Kisses (save the "Hershey Kiss" tag from each), food coloring in the shade of each wrapper you are turning into a cookie, and edible sprinkles in the corresponding icing colors.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the egg and flavoring. Combine butter and egg mixtures and beat until fully incorporated. In another separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and add to butter an egg mixture in three intervals. Mix until dough is pliable but not sticky. Roll out dough* and cut into desired shapes. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Let cool completely before icing.

To make the Kiss shape, I used a small heart cookie cutter. I tried to smooth out the top of the heart into a straight line for the bottom of the Kiss. Some were more successful than others. Last night I picked up a small metal heart cutter and flattened the cutter itself for the future.

Next, I mixed up some icing - confectioner's sugar mixed with water to a thickish consistency. To test the thickness I run a knife through the icing and count to five. If the line disappears before 5 seconds, I add a bit more sugar. If it takes 5 seconds for the line to disappear, it's exactly how I want it. I just eyeballed the amount of icing, making as much as I thought I'd need for the amount of cookies I had. Then, I split the icing into three parts dyeing the first one gray, the second light pink, and the third red.

Working with one color at a time, I poured the icing in a plastic piping bag fitted with a #3 tip. Outline the Kiss with icing and fill the inside. You can use a toothpick to nudge fill out the icing completely inside the outline. Immediately after icing a cookie, take one of the Hershey Kiss tags and, again using a toothpick, push it into the icing so it will be secure once the icing sets. After the tag is applied, immediately pour the sprinkles that match the icing color onto the cookie. (TIP: Pour the sprinkles over a coffee filter. When you are done sprinkling, use the filter to pour the unused sprinkles back into the container. Not my original idea, but it's genius and works like a dream!)

I started with gray icing and sprinkles:

Then I rounded out the Valentine collection with pink and red:

Once I completed the icing/tagging/sprinkling process, I melted down the unwrapped Hershey Kisses in the microwave in one minute increments at 30% power until they were melted. I poured the melted chocolate into a piping bag, snipped off a TINY bit of the end, and made a triangle of chocolate on each cookie:

Using a toothpick, I pushed the chocolate into a kiss shape and did my best to create that iconic swirly flourish at the top! I can definitely use more practice with that:

They are not perfect, but I *love* them. :)

I think these might be a new favorite of mine. I will make them for every Holiday and event coming because WHO doesn't love a Kiss? Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks SO MUCH, Brenda!! Welcome to Life Is Sweets...hope you'll find some things of interest here. :) Thanks, also, for pinning these cookies. They were a lot of fun to make!! Enjoy the rest of the weekend. :)

I saw you linked up at Ginger Snap Crafts.. and these are adorable, I am going to pin it!!! Also, I am following you on pinterest. I am co-hosting a link party this week called Tell Me Tuesdays! I'd love for you to come check it out and link up!!Beth @ The First Year Blog

These are absolutely TOO CUTE!! Love, love it! Totally pinning. I'd love for you to come on over and share at Finding the Pretty & Delicious Linky Party.http://www.yourhomebasedmom.com/finding-the-pretty-delicious-linky-party-2/

Congrats! You are featured today on Smart School House for Whimsy Wednesday! I love your blog and this really caught my eye! The new party (along with your feature) will start very soon. Can’t wait to see what you’ve been up to this week!

Kelly from Smart School Househttp://www.smartschoolhouse.com(Be sure to follow on Facebook for more features!) http://www.facebook.com/SmartSchoolHouse

Congrats on being featured at Smart School House. I can see why, these are the cuties things and yummy looking too. I would love for you to share over at my link party @ http://www.memoriesbythemile.com/New Follower,Wanda Ann @ Memories by the Mile

I have become known at my children's school as the mom with the cool Christmas and Valentines treats. Guess what I'm making this year! Thanks so much for posting them I know the kids will all love them.

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Thank you so much, Faith @ Artistic31Mama.com!!

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